Portrait of God: Rediscovering the Attributes of God Through the Stories of His PeopleEsimerkki

The God of Faithfulness

When sin entered the world, Adam and Eve found out there was a boundary to paradise, and their sin put them on the outside of it. I can see them trying to look past the angel’s fiery sword just to get one more glimpse of that place where they had walked with God.

From that time forward, men and women have struggled along on their own, trying their best to relate to one another, only to fumble in their attempts. In a sin-marred world, often we find friends only to lose them. Or we give love only to be hurt in return.

But God sees our pain. Jesus wept from the inside of the garden just as Adam and Eve must have wept on the outside. Who can solve a problem that sin created? Only the Holy One. He set a plan into motion.

And in Bethlehem, a baby cried.

Our forever friend had come. A Savior who would heal us of our sin to make us alive. The Spirit who would fill us and transform us. A God who would invite us back to the garden to walk with Him once again. God with us. Christ in us! “I am with you always, to the end of the age” (Matthew 28:20). “Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you” (Hebrews 13:5).

When we say yes to this Jesus, we are never alone. In the pain of abandonment, we can run to the One who will never abandon us. We begin to see the world as He sees it. We see people as He sees them, and it changes everything! We now experience every relationship through who He is in us.

Every hurt is an opportunity to be healed and to release healing. Every attacking enemy, a target for love. Every empty room, a place to be filled with God’s presence! God is with us. We are never alone, even amid great suffering.

Blessing reveals God’s nature (His goodness), and suffering is an opportunity to be conformed into His nature. What good thing reminds of you of God’s goodness? And what painful things have helped form you into a more Christlike person?

This plan is presented to you by Portrait of God, by Jack Mooring.To learn more about this book, please click here.